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Reclusive Co-Founder of Aldi Discount Mart

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Reclusive Co-Founder of Aldi Discount Mart PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE 11! THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2010 W WWW.POST-GAZETTE.COM ,. NEWS OBITUARIES THEO Af.BRECHT I March 28, 1922 - July 24, 2010 Reclusive co-founder of Aldi discount mart Theo Albrecht, the secre• returned home· to Essen and As their concept proved suc­ fare co-founder of Germany's took over a grocery store their cessful. Aldi started to expand worldwide discount super­ parents owned. around the world. In the U.S. market chain Aldi, a co-owner They flourished as the Ger­ alone, the company says it now of Trader Joe's in the United man economy, in shambles has ab?ut 1,000 shops. States and one of Europe's rich­ after the war, cah1e back to life A!d1 _does not publish sales or est men, has died at age 88. profit figures. Aldi Nord says it The retail machine Mr. in what is often called-the "eco­ employs more than 50,000 peo­ Albrecht built with his brother nomic miracle." ple around the world but will Karl has won over German con­ By 1950, they were already not reveal how many stores the sumers with their no-thrills but nmning 13 stores; five years company has worldwide. later, they had expanded super-cheap offer. making bil­ . In 1979, a fainily trust estab­ lionaires of the two and spawn­ throughout Germany's western llshed by Th~o Albrecht bought ing imitation "harrl-discounf' industrial Ruhr basin. the U.S. specialty-grocery chain stores across Europe. The first Aldi stores - an acronym standing for "Albrecht Trader Joe's. In keeping with The company's Aldi Nord Ald,1's culture ofsecrecy, Trader division said in a statement Discount" - opened in the early 1960s under the motto Joe s refused to comment on Mr. that Mr. Albrecht was the driv­ Albrec~t or Aldi, even refusing ing force behind Aldi's interna­ "concentrating on the basics: to confirm the chain is owned tionalization, expanding stores a limited selection of goods for daily needs.'' by ~he '\lbrecht family. The to France. Spain, Portugal, busmess mformation provider Poland and the United States, It was a formula that sold among other nations. well: Aldi carries a limited Hoover's confirms.that billion- The company said he died selection of fastest-selling, non­ aire brothers bought the U.S. Saturday in his home city of perishable consumer items, company in 1979. Essen, but gave no cause of a strategy that allowed the Mr. Al~recht qufetly man­ death. retailer to increase order vol­ aged Aldi Nord until 1993, · Even that bare-bones state- ume, cut handling costs and when he stepped back from its day-to-day operations. But he ment marked unusual open• waste. and buy goods cheap - savings passed on to the con­ still wielded huge influence as ness for a company known for chairman ofa foundation that its extreme secrecy. sumer. Aldi now has more than holds the biggest stake in the When Forbes featured the company. brothers in 1992 as two of tbe 4.000 outlets in Germany alone. world's richest men, the maga­ where it is known for its no• The publicity-shy Mr. zine had to use silhouettes frills shopping environment, Albrecht - of whom barely streamlined processes and a any phot~s exist -:- kept a very rather than photographs to low profile. In 1971, he was illustrate the article since no limited range of discount prod­ ucts. kidnapped in Germany and pictures of them had been pub­ ~eleased after 17 days after pay­ lished in many years. Thetwo brothers in the lng a ransom of 7 million Ger­ The German Retail Federa­ 1960s decided to divide up what man marks. · tion said the countrY. had lost was then West Germany, with The Albrecht brothers have one of its greatest entrepre­ Theo running -stores in the regularly led lists of Germany's neurs. north. However, they used their "Tl1ere are only a few people richest people. combined bargaining power Forbes magazine's 2010 list of who have stamped their mark to lo~er purchasing prices, on an entire business sector of the world's richest people esti­ enablmg them to garner higher mated Theo Albrecht's fortune the economy. Theo Albrecht profit margins while keeping achieved just that." the federa­ prices low. · at $16.7 billion, making him tion's managing director, Ste­ ~me of the wealthiest people fan Genth, said in a statement. m Europe. Karl Albrecht 90 Mr. Albrecht and his elder is said to have an estim~ted brother Karl served as German w:ealth of $23.5 billion, making soldiers in World War II, tnen hun number 10 worldwide. .
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